


Taking another turn

by Bythia



Series: Just Write: Trope-Bingo 2020 [11]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s05e14 48 Hours, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bythia/pseuds/Bythia
Summary: Radek won't let the Air Force send his friend to Siberia if Rodney doesn't want to go there.
Relationships: Radek Zelenka & Rodney McKay
Series: Just Write: Trope-Bingo 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897216
Comments: 4
Kudos: 111
Collections: Just Write! Trope Bingo





	Taking another turn

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember watching this episode the first time and what I thought about Rodney then. But the second time, after I had already seen SGA, it was just infuriating how they are treating him.
> 
> **Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters or anything of this world. I just borrowed them to play a little bit, and I don't make money with the stories I borrowed them for. But the words are mine, so please don't copy them to use them as your own.
> 
> Have fun,  
> Bythia

Radek was watching his colleague and friend Rodney McKay pack while he was muttering obscenities under his breath. He was still not understanding what was happening or why it was happening. He had worked with Rodney on and of the last decade and they had both come to Area 51 one and a half years ago, although Radek had not known what he could expect in Nevada when he had boarded the plane that had brought him here.

"I still don't understand why you are sent to Russia!"

"Because I was pulled into someone's political game, who used my work against me and others, and they lost. A least I'm not sitting in the jail cell beside theirs."

"They can't send you to Russia!"

Rodney huffed. "I'm lucky I got to come back here and get to pack a couple of things! The General in charge wanted me to get on a plane to Russia immediately!"

"What do they want you to do there?" Radek asked irritated. "I can't imagine anyone here wants to share their knowledge about Ancient technology or the Stargate with them."

"I shall educate them about naquadah generators."

Radek frowned. "You have never worked on this project. What do you know about that?"

"Nothing," Rodney growled. "They don't care, so I’ll have to learn it on the flight over there. They want to punish me, that's all they care about."

"And you are just letting them do it?" Radek asked irritated. "Why aren't you fighting this?"

Rodney paused and turned to him. "I've got a contract with the Air Force and the Air Force is sending me to Russia. Believe me, I have no desire to go there, but my contract is worded in such a way, that I have no chance to protest this!"

Radek frowned because that just could not be right. He knew his own contract would not allow anyone to send him just into another country on a whim for months on end, especially not if he was protesting it. "Then quit! - If they are not letting you work in the field you have become an expert in – for them, I might add! - then you don't owe them anything!"

Rodney sighed deeply and turned back to his bags. "Quitting is not … I already tried that once and it didn't end well. Mind you, my superiors at the time had no enjoyment in working with me after that either, but nothing of that helped me in the long run."

"Explain that!" Radek demanded. "I have very clear out-clauses in my contract!"

"You weren't recruited by the CIA out of elementary school after building a nuclear warhead," Rodney muttered. "I was young and foolish and wanted nothing more than to get out of the house of my parents. Seemed like salvation at the time. - Turns out, one has to live with all kinds of mistakes from childhood for the rest of their life."

"I don't understand."

"It was made very clear that the only way I leave is if I go to a deep dark hole somewhere. I annoyed the fuck out of my handlers after that, and that brought me here. So it brought me something good for a while at least, right? The last one and a half years were great!"

"Did you try to complain to your government?" Radek asked. "I can't imagine that the Canadian government would let the CIA hold one of their foremost scientists hostages!"

Rodney remained silent and kept stubbornly packing.

"Rodney?"

"I don't have Canadian citizenship anymore, no one there cares."

"I care!" Radek called out angry. "They can't do this!"

"We are part of a top-secret government organization. I assure you, this is the least atrocious thing you'll encounter here," Rodney muttered. "The political play I just witnessed and fell victim to is a fairly regular thing around here!"

"When is your plane leaving?" Radek asked.

"I get to spend one last night here. My escort to the airport will wait for me at 5 am at the gate."

"We'll see about that!" Radek muttered darkly and left Rodney's quarters.

  
  


  
  


While he left the base, Radek noticed for the first time how much easier that was on his own than when Rodney was accompanying him. He had thought it had something to do with Rodney's threat profile, but after the conversation, he had just had he was beginning to see another pattern in all of his interactions with Rodney and others on the base. And he did not like it at all.

Radek had led a hard life from a very young age on and though it had gotten easier once he had gotten out of school and been accepted at a university in another country, he had kept every lesson he had learned in his childhood and youth close to his heart. He had been very careful in making tight connections with people he had met during his carrier who could someday be of help. He had not needed any of this connection until now, but he had no qualms about changing that.

Rodney was a brilliant man, if sometimes a little abrasive and blunt with people he was not comfortable with or who were unable to keep up with his rapid mind, and both scenarios held true for most everyone. But he had become a good friend for Radek over the years and had supported more than one of his ideas professionally that no one else had even wanted to look it. Radek's own comprehension of the world and the universe had changed so much since Rodney had started to share his view on it with him, but even outside of science Rodney could be a good man if one just took the time to get through his defenses.

Defences, who obviously came not only from being the smartest person in most environments he had encountered and being bullied for it from early childhood on but also from being severely misused by a government agency from a very young age on. Radek knew exactly how young Rodney had been when he had built this warhead because they had spoken more than once about the things they had built at an age when others in their age group were still trying to learn basic math and how to write.

Whatever contract Rodney may have signed at that age was invalid of course, even if he had signed it anew after coming of age, but Radek could just imagine how the CIA would have isolated Rodney from those who could educate him about such things or help him to get out. He had seen it happen all the time, although had not understood what it was until now.

Radek would put a stop to this, he would not let them use up Rodney in this way anymore. He knew he would probably burn a lot of bridges for himself in helping Rodney, but he was suddenly not very interested in working for an organization that willingly misused one of their own in such away. He did not need to work with ancient technology to find fulfillment. He would find another field to study and to develop, and with the potential to make a lot more money and find recognition for it.

It was a half an hour drive to the next town from the base and Radek went straight to his favorite bookshop, where he knew the owner would let him use his landline without questions. He was not willing to risk using his mobile phone and give those assholes a chance to prepare if they were listening to his calls. And he was not trusting them anymore to not listen. He had little time to help Rodney and the unawareness of their enemies would be their greatest advantage.

"Who are you and where did you get this number?"

"Hello Patrick, this is Radek."

During his undergrad studies, Radek had won a very rare position for an internship with Sheppard Industries, but that was not the reason why he had the private number of the head of the company, although his working there had let to their first meeting which had created a lasting impression for Patrick.

A couple of years later, while Radek had worked on his dissertation, he had been witness to a car accident and had gotten the unconscious driver out of the car before it had exploded. He had followed the ambulance to the hospital, mainly because he had not gotten away from this without injuries himself, and had been utterly floored when Patrick Sheppard had suddenly stood in front of him, unshed tears in his eyes and eternally grateful to the man who had saved his older son.

Although Radek had protested, he had been stuck in the hospital for a couple of days, while Patrick had paid for his hospital bill and put him in the same room as his son John. Somehow they had struck up a friendship over this, even after Radek had repeatedly refused to work for Patrick.

"Would you still want me to work for you, even if your government would declare me persona non grata in any scientific field?" Radek asked.

"What did they do?" Patrick asked alarmed.

"They are holding a very good friend of mine hostage with his contract and now they want to send him to another country for at least half a year, to work on a project he has no idea about at the moment! I asked him why he wouldn't quit and he told me they wouldn't let him and he had already tried it once. That's just not acceptable!"

Patrick drew in a sharp breath. "No, you are right."

"They are escorting him to the airport tomorrow morning at 5 am. Is there any way you can have a couple of lawyers here until then and stop this?"

"That won't be a problem. This friend would be who?"

"Meredith Rodney McKay," Radek answered. "He is born Canadian, but … if I have understood that correctly, they also have pressured him into giving that citizenship up. The CIA had him on their watch list since the end of his six grade, which he finished shortly after he had turned ten. He often says they recruited him then, but … I just can't … he was a fucking child!"

"I'm starting to see the real problem in this. Lawyers won't be the only thing I'm sending to you. It's still the Air Force or have you changed employment since we last spoke?"

"Still the Air Force, still the same base," Radek confirmed.

"Go back and stay with your friend. Instruct him to let the lawyers handle it and tell him that I won't expect anything in return from him," Patrick instructed. "Prepare for a few rough days, the people in charge of this facility won't be happy at all."

Radek snorted. "I fully expect you to make them suffer."

Patrick laughed. "I take it from your introduction that you want out of your contract, too?"

"Of course! I'm not working for these assholes anymore, even if I could trust them not to do the same thing to me sometime!"

"You have a job here whenever you want it. But I can't promise the same for your friend as long as I haven't seen anything from him."

This time, Radek laughed. "I promise you, you'll want him. He is light years ahead of any one of us! He was at MIT, I'm sure you'll be able to find out anything about his education from there on out! There is a reason those assholes don't want to let him go."

"If you say so," Patrick replied amused. "Go back, get your friend, and keep your heads down until the lawyers are there."

  
  


  
  


It had been a long time since Radek had been so anxious during a night. He had never felt unsafe in his work environment before, but that had drastically changed and Rodney's mood did not help at all, but at least he had not asked Radek to leave his room. It was three in the morning when an airman knocked on Rodney's door and informed them that people were waiting for them in a conference room. Rodney was utterly confused, especially after Radek had whispered to him to trust him and the lawyers that were waiting for them.

From there on out it was like watching a train wreck and Radek did not even try to hide how much he was enjoying the situation.

Patrick's lawyers were the best of the best and they were viciously tearing through any of Landry's protests without any mercy. Rodney was, to Radek's astonishment, sitting beside them projecting utter calmness and eyeing Landry and his lackeys smugly. He had not expected that his friend would take on this turn of events so calmly and as if it was not as unexpected for him as it was for anyone else besides Radek. It became clear somewhere in the discussion, that Patrick himself had driven to DC and was waking up a lot of important people there to make his ire known.

It was long past 5 am when they were escorted to their quarters where they got half an hour to pack their belongings before they were escorted off the base. All ten lawyers Patrick had sent were trotting behind them all the way and Radek was thankful for that, because everyone on base vibrated with fury, and Radek was not sure if they would not have taken an opportunity to let it out on them if they thought they could get away with it.

In front of the gate to the base waited a convoy of four SUVs for them, complete with a driver for each and a security team. Rodney and Radek were ushered into one of the vehicles without much of a discussion and informed that one of SI's private planes was already waiting for them to bring them to Virginia and that they were awaited in SI Headquarters for any discussions about the following lawsuits against their previous employers.

Rodney turned to him at the moment the base was no longer to be seen behind them. "What the fuck, Radek?"

"You think I should have just let stand what you told me yesterday?", Radek asked frowning. "I'm not okay with letting them use you as a slave!"

"But Sheppard Industries? Will they expect us to work for them now?"

Radek shook his. "Patrick won't expect anything from us, I promise."

"How come you have Patrick Sheppard on your speed dial?" Rodney asked suspiciously.

"I saved his son. And he is still very happy to go against the Air Force every chance he gets because they weren't very nice to said son after the accident that nearly cost him his life. He thought I was crazy when I started to work for the Air Force," Radek explained.

Rodney frowned. "How did you save this son?"

"I witnessed the accident, stopped and pulled John out of the car before it exploded while the other driver involved in this mess drove away. They still don't know who that bastard was." There was a lingering suspicion that it had not been an accident at all, but Radek was not privy to those details and, either way, it was nothing he would share with anyone. "I have a standing offer to work for Patrick, but up until now, other things seemed more interesting and exciting. But first of all, we are friends and I knew I could trust him to help another friend of mine if I asked him."

"And he won't expect anything from me?"

Radek shook his head. "No. We can get your Canadian citizenship back and you can leave this country if that is what you want."

"They won't just give up, you know." Rodney turned his face back to the window. "Especially not with all the things we know. They'll watch us for the rest of our lives and if either one of us actually manages to find a place to work, they'll try to claim everything we publish as theirs."

"That's what these lawyers are there for", Radek replied.

Rodney snorted. "They won't be there forever, especially if I don't want to work for SI."

"True. The first question you need to answer yourself is if you want to keep working in research or development. How much of the projects you worked on in the past were chosen by yourself?"

Radek eyed his friend thoughtfully. Rodney was very passionate about his work, but Radek was not sure if that was true passion or just a defence mechanism to manage the situation his friend had felt trapped in. Radek knew from his own experience, that you made the best out of anything if you had no other choice than to accept things as they were as to not lose your mind. He had grown up using this technique to survive, and although he had not seen anything of this in Rodney in the past, he had wondered the whole night how much of himself Rodney was hiding.

Rodney snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, I have plans, Radek! Of course, I want to keep working in R&D!"

"Patrick will have an offer for you, but I assure you it's not mandatory."

They remained silent for the rest of the drive to a small, private airfield, where Patrick’s very own Learjet was waiting for them. Radek hoped Rodney would come around and come to SI with him because he knew they would be able to find their whole potential there, undisturbed by anyone from the government as Patrick was fierce in shielding his employees. And they would be able to stick it to the Air Force, something that could unify Rodney and Patrick very easily.

Radek was not surprised at all that John Sheppard was their personal pilot, because the other man took every single opportunity he could to fly. What did surprise him was the snarky discussion that arose between John and Rodney before he had even an opportunity to properly introduce them and that kept going for the whole flight from Nevada to Virginia.

He witnessed the whole thing silently and thoughtfully and came to the conclusion, that Sheppard Industries would start to branch out to Canada if Rodney decided to go back instead of working for them just so John would have a reason to work wherever Rodney would go. He had seen a very similar thing happen between John's younger brother David and his soon to be wife, and he knew very well that all the Sheppard’s were cast from the same mold.

Rodney had no idea what a turn his life had just taken, but Radek would gleefully watch on and would take all the credit when his friend would finally catch a clue.

** The End **

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the "Epic Friendship" square of my Bingo Card.


End file.
